How to crowd-proof your vacation in 2025
Celia Fuller, a book designer based in Tuckahoe, New York, often lets her personal passions determine her travels. For many years, she joined friends in Montreal to attend Formula 1 races.
"We would return to the same French restaurant every trip and see F1 team members eating there," she said. "Or run into them in the elevator at our hotel. It was cool."
But Fuller has also experienced the downside of traveling for events. Next summer, she plans to attend the Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts, where fans often book their stays far in advance. But, sometimes, when musical acts announce specific performance dates for the biennial event, Airbnb hosts will drop existing reservations to relist properties at higher prices.
And what could be even worse? When your absolutely unrelated-to-the-event travel plans overlap with everyone else's reason for being in town. You'll miss out on the fun but still experience the crowds, booked-up restaurants and elevated hotel bills.
To crowd-proof your vacation in 2025, we've compiled a list of places hosting huge events next year that everyone but superfans — unless you're into that kind of thing.
Winter 2025
Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C.
When: Jan. 20, 2025
The president's official swearing-in overlaps with Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2025. Bloomberg reports that hotels are already nearly sold out, and restaurants will be booked for the whole three-day weekend. Hopefully, that's the worst that will happen.
Lunar New Year
When: Jan. 29, 2025
The Year of the Snake commences worldwide on Wednesday, Jan. 29, but you can anticipate crowds, traffic and street closures for parades in cities throughout Asia and in popular Chinatowns in places such as San Francisco, Vancouver, Los Angeles and New York City.
Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, Louisiana
When: Feb. 9, 2025
Super Bowl LIX coincides with Mardi Gras parade season next February in New Orleans, creating the perfect storm for the unsuspecting traveler. Hotel rates will skyrocket to reflect room demand. Restaurant reservations will be nearly impossible to snag. Streets will be blocked. And if you choose to fly, expect surge pricing. Right now, a Spirit Airlines round-trip flight from New York City for Super Bowl weekend costs $828. The same itinerary flying a week before? $173.
Spring 2025
Cherry blossom season in Washington, D.C. and Osaka, Japan
When: Variable, but the average falls between the last week of March and the first week of April
While you can't predict when the cherry trees will flower, you can accurately predict crowds when the blossoms finally unfurl. Hotels along D.C.'s Tidal Basin will be packed and priced accordingly. In Osaka, hotel rates surged to a 30-year high in March 2024, thanks to a record number of tourists drawn by the weak yen and the popularity of the cherry blossom season. In short, consider planning a trip during Japan's shoulder season unless you're in it specifically for the pretty colors. (And don't arrive in Japan during Golden Week, April 29 through May 5, when four back-to-back holidays are bundled as a full week off school and work. Absolutely everyone heads on vacation, so hotel and flight availability is low, and prices skyrocket if you haven't planned well ahead.)
Related: How to avoid the crowds while traveling in Japan
Easter in Rome
When: April 20, 2025
The annual throngs of Easter celebrants bee-lining to Vatican City will swell next year thanks to an overlapping Jubilee year in 2025. (Jubilee years fall every 25 years, so consider yourself warned for 2050, too.) The Catholic Church expects more than seven million pilgrims to descend on the city over the year, many of them at Easter, the holiest holiday on the Christian calendar. During Easter 2023, the cost of hotel rooms in Rome was up over 30% year over year. Now factor in 2025's pilgrim surge: Do you think prices will be higher? In other words, is the Pope Catholic?
Met Costume Institute Gala in New York City
When: May 5, 2025
Don't come to Manhattan's Upper East Side on the first Monday in May without expecting traffic and delays near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Or wildly high rates at The Mark, where most celebrities stay due to the hotel's proximity to the museum.) But the payoff may include glimpses of stars in fantastically ornate outfits based on 2025's Met Gala theme, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style."
Summer 2025
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Milan
When: June 30 and July 3, 2025
The Boss (il Capo?) and his legion of fans will march into Milan for two nights of concerts next summer at the end of his 2024-2025 world tour. GQ Italia says that back in the day, "Born in the USA" sold more than a million copies in Italy, and everyone knows devoted American Springsteen fans like to travel for his legendary performances. They will likely linger, too: Fourth of July week is a popular time to vacation, so Milan is sure to be crowded with American tourists, taking in the sights and the risotto — they'll be easy to spot in their Stone Pony t-shirts.
Comic Con in San Diego
When: July 24-27, 2025
Should you accidentally stumble upon Comic Con while visiting San Diego at the height of summer, prepare yourself for more than an eyeful. While it is very entertaining to see Star Wars stormtroopers, anime schoolgirls and caped superheroes walking in colorful packs down the sidewalks, it is far less amusing to be caught in standstill traffic near the convention center. The crowds are young (the average age range of the 135,000 attendees is between 17 and 34), so high-end hotel rooms may not sell out, but expect the outlandish costumes and subsequent rubberneckers to slow the city down to a (decidedly not Teenage Mutant Ninja) turtle's pace.
Oasis in Dublin
When: Aug. 16 and 17, 2025
Emerging from their 15-year time out, the tempestuous brothers Gallagher are touring Ireland, the U.K., North America and Australia to mark the 30th anniversary of their debut album, "Definitely Maybe." The band's Irish shows will draw rabid fans, many of whom will stay in town for both nights. Dublin's limited hotel capacity could become an issue. When Taylor Swift played in June 2024, Irish News reported that Dublin hotel prices near Aviva Stadium surged by 45%. That may not stop passionate Oasis fans from coming but you may want to avoid a stop in Dublin those nights. For the full list of tour dates, consult LiveNation.
Fall 2025
U.N. General Assembly in New York City
When: Sept. 9-23, 2025
Nothing bungs up the streets of Manhattan like world leaders and their entourages riding around in limousines. Even if you can sidestep Midtown during this two-week crush, you'll still feel the effects of the heightened security and added traffic throughout the city and its airports.
Fashion Weeks
When: New York City (Sept. 11-15, 2025); London (Sept. 18-22, 2025); Milan (Sept. 23-29, 2025); Paris (Sept. 29-Oct. 7, 2025)
The annual migration of glamorous International Fashion Week attendees begins the month in New York and then slinks catlike to Europe. (The "big four" cities — New York, London, Milan and Paris — also hold spring shows in late winter, but the fall weeks somehow have a greater impact on adequately dressed civilian travel.) Where you'll mostly feel the burn of fashion week is in luxury hotel prices. The cities' finest suites will be booked by the heads of fashion labels, celebrities and buyers, none of whom will balk at paying inflated fashion-week rates for a lavish room. It's all about appearances, ma cherie.
Formula 1 in Austin
When: Oct. 17-19, 2025
The Lone Star State's capital adds a distinctly Austin touch to its annual F1 race weekend with concerts by big-name acts like Taylor Swift (who played in 2016), Post Malone (2024), Eminem and Sting (who share the 2024 weekend lineup). These performances drive up race attendance to include those who know little about the sport. At night, the race's 440,000+ fans speed cityward to fill up restaurants, Sixth Street bars, music venues and all the hotels. In the days leading up to the 2024 race weekend, the average downtown hotel rate was $477 per night (not horrible), but occupancy was almost 90%. (Las Vegas, which hosted its first F1 race in the modern era in 2023, has 105,000 more hotel rooms than Austin, so if you need to overlap with a race, choose Nevada.)
Note: Among many 2025 unknown but inevitable music events that could ruin your trip if you accidentally coincide with them:
- The Jonas Brothers have announced a tour to celebrate their twentieth anniversary but haven't confirmed the schedule.
- Harry Styles, BlackPink and Chappell Roan all plan to tour but haven't announced dates and cities yet.
- All seven members of K-Pop sensation BTS will have completed their military service by June 2025, but who knows where the "Bulletproof Boy Scouts" and their army will descend?
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